Deceptus
by MistressMind007
Summary: What if Jack, Miko, Raf and Agent Fowler didn't manage to get off the Nemesis after they had reversed the effect of the dark energon in the ship?
1. Chapter 1

Jack ran out of the way with as much speed as he could muster before a colossal decepticon leader could land on him. The dark energon on the Nemesis was reversed... And that meant that the stasis that was forced on all the Cybertronians was reversed too.

"Run!", Jack commanded Miko and Raf didn't argue and began to sprint for their lives.

As they were running out of the massive doors of the Nemesis, Raf tripped on the gap that allowed the doors to close and open without damaging the floor.

"Jack, Raf's down!", Miko screamed at Jack.

"Scrap! C'mon Raf!", Jack urged as he helped Raf up.

Before they could even start running away, loud, heavy footsteps could be heard.

"And where do you think you're going my little guests?", Megatron asked with a dark smile.

"Far away from your ugly face, bucket head!", Miko shouted at him.

"Ah, Miko is it? You are very confident, wouldn't you say?", Megatron reached down and grabbed Miko in his hand.

Miko struggled to get away as she was brought up to Megatron's face.

"Leave her alone, Megatron!", Jack ordered.

"I do no take orders from a sparkling especially a human one!", Megatron shouted as he scooped up the other two kids on the floor.

Jack immediately joined Miko in struggling against Megatron's grip. However, Raf looked like he was about to burst into tears, he was already sniffling and it was easy to see that he was fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall. When Megatron saw this he actually felt a little bit guilty. No matter what race the sparkling was, he would never physically hurt one. Megatron shook the feeling off and began walking down the dark hallways of the Nemesis towards where KnockOut should be.

/-\

"KnockOut, I see you have the adult human, Agent Fowler", Megatron said in a sinister voice.

"Ratchet we need a groundbridge!", Agent Fowler yelled.

"Do you now?", asked KnockOut in a sarcastic voice while Megatron chuckled.

A groundbridge opened and Ratchet came through with the rest of the Autobots. All Autobots were shocked at the sight that greeted them.

"Move any closer and we will drop your human pets", Megatron snarled.

"Megatron, don't be a fool and hand them over", Optimus said as calmly as he could.

"I'm giving you 5 seconds to get through that groundbridge or I will drop the humans"

"Megatron-"

"5...4..."

"Autobots, return to base", Optimus ordered, the anger in his voice crystal clear.

"WE CAN'T LEAVE THEM!", Arcee and Bulkhead shouted at Optimus while Bumblebee clicked sadly.

"3..."

"Into the ground bridge now", Ratchet hurried the three complaining guardians of the human allies.

"2..."

The Autobots spared one last sympathetic to their human friends and allies.

"1..."

Jack, Miko, Raf and Agent Fowler watched as the Autobots ran through the ground bridge.

Megatron watched the ground bridge close behind the Autobots and then looked down at the four humans with a dark chuckle.

"KnockOut, take Agent Fowler to the brig, we should be able to get some information out of him"

"And what of the children my liege?"

"I will take them to the training room. They could be a great edition to the decepticon army"

"We will never join you! Our loyalties lie with the 'bots!", Raf screamed which surprised Megatron.

"Such views can be changed, little one", Megatron said casually.

"Especially since you're all so young", KnockOut added with a sly grin.

Megatron looked down to see that Miko and Jack had ceased their squirming and were looking up at Megatron with glares that could have made Unicron flinch.

"Make us fight not but not Raf!", Jack shouted at Megatron.

"And why should I do that, young one?"

"He isn't-"

"He's great with tech", Miko interrupted Jack with an excuse.

"Y-yeah. N-not fighting", Jack stuttered.

"Hmm... Soundwave, I am leaving you in charge of the small one"

"Its Raf", Miko corrected with a scowl.

Megatron looked down at Miko and glared at her hoping it would make her stand down but she only glared back at him. These children really were stubborn.

Soundwave who had been standing behind Megatron took Raf. Soundwave seemed to sense that Raf was in need of comforting and cradled him to his spark allowing the child to soak up the warmth.

Megatron nodded to Soundwave and then took the two children in his arms to the training room. Megatron could see the hyperactivity in Miko that could lead her to be a great warrior. He also saw the pain behind Jacks eyes which could also lead him to be a great warrior.

"Why haven't you killed us yet?", the question took Megatron by surprise.

He looked down at the two children that were staring up at him with wide eyes. Megatron knew that he couldn't explain to two feisty children why they had to fight so he made up something else.

"What if your families were in danger?" Miko and Jack looked down immediately.

Megatron had expected a completely different reaction. He didn't think that they would stand down, he thought that they would argue with him, demand that they are given what they need to protect those that they loved.

"Well?", Megatron asked in a harsh tone.

"Sure", he got a mumbled reply.

"Boy?", Megatron looked at Jack.

"Uhuh", Jack replied but kept his gaze on the floor. Megatron stared at them, wondering what he had said that would hurt them so much.

Oh well, for now he would see where their strengths were in fighting. He needed some strong soldiers. He also wanted to see the crushed, defeated looks engraved onto the Autobots faces as they died at the hands of their once human friends.

/-\

~ How does the kids training session go? What does Raf get up to with Soundwave? What does Dreadwing do to Agent Fowler? How do the Autobots react to their friends being taken? Find out next time.


	2. Chapter 2

Miko and Jack glared at the floor as Megatron tried to get them to fight the holograms that he had switched on. He was having no luck.

"I'm sure you two want to leave this ship, correct?"

Megatron had no reply and he growled.

"I can go and retrieve the small one from Soundwave and make him fight".

This instantly made Miko and Jack look up at Megatron with panicked expressions. However, Jack's instantly faded into a vicious look.

"You wouldn't", he snarled.

"Oh but I would, young one", Megatron smirked.

"If you dare to touch him I swear-"

"Jack, stop. Let's just get this out of the way. I don't want Raf to be put in this situation", Miko begged Jack.

Megatron chuckled darkly at this.

"I'm glad to see you're both enthusiastic about becoming loyal soldiers", he smirked.

Miko and Jack glared at up at him but said nothing. They didn't want to put their younger friend in danger.

/-\

"S-soundwave?", Raf asked timidly.

Soundwave looked down at the small human and nodded, showing he was listening.

"W-where are we g-going?"

Soundwave could see that the boy was terrified so he shifted him closer to his spark before he pulled up a map of the Nemesis on his visor and pinpointed the control room.

Raf nodded in understanding. He was too scared to ask more questions. He just wanted to go home with Jack, Miko and Agent Fowler. Soundwave was nice to him but he was still scared by the silent communications officer. Little did he know that Soundwave knew this and knew a lot of other things that Raf wanted to keep locked away.

Soon they reached the control room. Soundwave walked past the working eradicon soldiers that saluted him and stood by the main screen. He put down Raf on the side before he began to tap away on what looked like a keypad. Raf was fascinated by the Cybertronian symbols that twisted and turned and craned his neck to get a closer look. Surprisingly, they looked familiar to the young boy and he couldn't help but study them closely.

Raf sat on the side closely watching Soundwave work in silence for about 45 minutes. He only spoke up when he saw that Soundwave looked confused. There were symbols on the screen. Raf instantly saw a pattern in the symbols that looked strangely familiar.

"Uh, S-soundwave?"

Soundwave turned his head to Raf and tilted his head.

"I think thats some kind of algorithm. You just need to go along with the pattern. You have to calculate the previous terms before you can calculate the future ones."

Soundwave almost looked shocked. But with his visor on, Raf was unable to see his actual expression. He was only able to tell by his body language, he moved as if someone had shoved him a little.

Soundwave nodded and rubbed Raf's back with a finger to show he was thankful.

"You're welcome", Raf said shyly.

/-\

"I will not ask you again, Agent Fowler. Where is the Autobot base?!", Dreadwing demanded.

"Wait, what are Autobots?"

"You little-"

"OH YES!"

"Oh, so you remember now?", Dreadwing asked with a smirk.

"Yeah... You're talking about those new hoovers that they've been advertising!", Fowler smiled at the 'con.

Dreadwing looked a little taken back by Agent Fowler's comment. What is a hoover? He googled it. Oh. That's what it is. He turned his attention back to the lump of flesh that was chained up and snarled when he saw the human was grinning up at him like an idiot.

"HUMAN! Where is the Autobot base?!"

"Hoovers do not have a base! Why in the name of Morgan Freeman would they have a base?!"

"You brought this upon yourself", Dreadwing charged up the energon prod in his servo and rammed it into Fowlers side.

Fowler screamed in pain as he felt his skin burn. The energon prod was still being pressed against his skin and it felt like someone had released lots of rattle snakes into his body, soaking up his blood and replacing the blood with their poison that burned his bones to the core. By now a patch of the agents skin had been fried and Fowler could swear he smelled bacon. He screwed his face up in a grimace and swore that he would never eat bacon again... Haha. Yeah that would happen.

The large human was so caught up in his own little thoughts about bacon that he didn't feel the pain anymore. He'd actually forgotten Dreadwing was meant to be interrogating him and hadn't realized that the energon prod had been removed from his skin.

The blue and golden yellow seeker could only stare at Agent Fowler. He couldn't believe it!  
The human had forgot that he was being electrocuted and was staring off into space, and... what was that strange liquid dripping out of the humans mouth and down his chin?

This strange liquid worried the seeker and made him begin to panic.

"Fleshling!", he clapped his hands in front of the agent and got no response. "Lord Megatron will not be happy".

Dreadwing undid the chains and ran towards the medbay with Fowler in his hands. He hadn't realized that Fowler had come back to reality when he had been taken out of the chains.

/-\

KnockOut turned around when he heard someone run into his medbay.

Dreadwing immediately started shouting at the medic to do something as he handed him the human.

Dreadwing still hadn't noticed that the human was back to reality until KnockOut looked at him with a questioning look.

"What is the problem, Commander Dreadwing? You seem on edge", he smirked.

KnockOut handed the human back to Dreadwing as he stuttered, trying to find an excuse to serve to the sassy red medic. In the end he decided to come clean. Dreadwing did not like to lie. No matter what it was about. Plus, he was still worried about that mysterious liquid.

"The human was unresponsive and a strange liquid was dripping out of his mouth", Dreadwing stated seriously.

KnockOut stared at Dreadwing for a few moments before bursting out into laughter.

"Nothing is wrong with him he was simply drooling!"

Dreadwing looked confused. He googled it. Oh. That's what drool is.

"Thank you KnockOut, I will be taking the fleshling back to the brig now"

/-\

Megatron was watching Miko and Jack fight the holograms. And wow. They were doing a lot better than he expected them to. Sure, their fighting techniques weren't the best choice but they were still managing to destroy them easily. However, Megatron couldn't help but think about how Miko and Jack didn't want Raf to even watch a fight. Maybe it was because he was young, he did look quite young after all? He would have to look up information about his little guests.

Megatron turned to watch Jack. The boy punched a hologram shattering it before it disappeared. He then swiftly turned his body 180 degrees and fly kicked another that was heading right at him.

The decepticon leader smiled evilly. Yes, the onyx haired boy will be a great edition. He then turned to study Miko's fighting.

Miko was busy trying to imitate some MMA fighting. She was all over the place and the holograms actually looked a bit disorientated from her rapid movement. Despite how crazy and all over the place she was, she was destroying the holograms really well. Megatron couldn't help but think that the girls excitement was rather amusing and actually smiled.

She will be a fine warrior.

The tyrant started to notice that the kids actions were starting to get more and more sloppy by the second. They were getting tired.

He got up to go and turn off the machine that activated the holograms and then looked down at the two sweaty, exhausted children.

"You two have performed well today, even if you did need a little bit of persuading", he praised.

Miko and Jack looked at him in surprise.

"Really?", Miko asked. She was very unsure about this.

"Yes. Enough questions now, you two will be rewarded with a rest"

The children looked slightly confused by this but didn't complain as Megatron picked them up. They were really tired after fighting for over an hour against hundreds of holograms.

Megatron looked down in surprise as he felt the human children rest themselves against his broad chest. The only thing that stopped Megatron from pulling them away was that he couldn't help but recognize the warmth that flowed through him when the humans leaned on his spark. It felt so familiar! He just couldn't put his finger on it!

He would have to stick to his earlier plan and find out as much information about the children as possible. There was something about these children that... Puzzled him. Nobody ever puzzled the Mighty Megatron, not even Cybertronian beings.

Maybe that agent would know information about the three kids. He decided to comm Dreadwing.

"::Dreadwing::"

"::My lord::"

"::Take Agent Fowler to the control room and wait for me to arrive::"

"::Yes, Lord Megatron::"

Megatron was walking towards his quarters. He was planning on laying his two future warriors down so they could sleep but when he looked down at them they were already asleep, cuddled up against his chest. Again, that warm feeling seeped through his spark and it made him all the more curious about the children.

He reached his quarters, placed the two children down on his berth and left to find Dreadwing in the control room.

/-\

Raf watched as an unconscious Agent Fowler was brought into the control room by Dreadwing with KnockOut following closely behind.

A few minutes later, Megatron walked in and he immediately ordered KnockOut to take Raf to his quarters.

When Raf reached Megatron's quarters with KnockOut he was happy to see his friends and they were unharmed!

He quickly snuggled up next to them and slipped into dreamland.

KnockOut watched with a small smile. He then turned to head back to his master in the control room after locking the door to the quarters, ensuring that no one could get in without the code.

/-\

"Soundwave, find all the information you can about the human children", Megatron ordered. Soundwave nodded before getting to work.

"My liege, what is this about?", KnockOut questioned.

"There is something about those children that is different from the other humans I have come across. Almost as if they're not human, but Cybertronian", Megatron explained.

"How can you believe mere human children are like Cybertronians?", Dreadwing looked at his leader with an expression on his face that easily read 'what the frag?!'

"I don't know and frankly it is annoying me to no end", he turned to KnockOut, "KnockOut, I need you to build a machine that is able to scan a body for any traces of Cybertronian signatures"

"Lord Megatron, are you sure? We could waste valuable resources-"

"Do as I command KnockOut", he interrupted the crimson medic. I can guarantee you there is something about those children"

"As you wish, Lord Megatron", KnockOut bowed before leaving.

Megatron turned around to see how Soundwave was doing with research. He had found quite a lot about the children.

The decepticon lord began to read some of the new found information on Rafael Esquivel as he said "Yet another task well done, Soundwave. You never fail to-"

"Lord Megatron?", Dreadwing questioned when he saw his leader tense up.

His master didn't reply, he stood glued to the spot.

Dreadwing walked up to Megatron and began to read what he had been reading.

Dreadwing's bright red optics flashed and widened in surprise. He had to re-read what he had just read a few times before he could actually believe it.

Both Megatron and his second in command could only stare at the information on the screen. Soundwave said nothing but he was frowning behind his glass visor. He had been correct.

/-\

Back at the Autobot base June Darby was currently crying her eyes out. No words could describe the pain she was feeling. Her son had been taken. No one deserves that.

Arcee had refused to leave June's side and was trying her best to calm the upset mother. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Arcee was too tense herself, Jack was her partner. Her friend. She would never give up on finding him. Watching June cry over the kidnapping of her son could only remind Arcee of that time on Cybertron when... No. She wasn't going to weaken herself with those thoughts. That was long ago, she needed to focus on finding her young friend.

Bulkhead was in the training room attempting to smash up some holograms that were coming at him but he couldn't. He felt weak without his Miko. Her hyperactivity wasn't there to keep him on his feet, he felt like he had nothing to do without his best friend.

Bumblebee was helping Ratchet as much as he could. Ratchet had eventually told Bumblebee to go and rest. The scout had argued at first but eventually his tiredness overcame him and he retreated to his quarters. 'Bee missed Raf, his best friend. Back on Cybertron Bumblebee never had any friends because they all said he was too small for a mech. Raf had never judged Bumblebee and was always there for him just as he was always there for Raf.  
Ratchet was trying to track the signatures of their four human friends but was having no luck. The Nemesis was covered in a strong cloaking device. It would take him months to break through it... If he could find a way into it. The medic had to admit, he missed the humans. He thought they were annoying but the base felt dull without the energetic, determined human children and the bossy agent. He could only hope that they would get their charges back unharmed.

Optimus Prime was watching his Chief Medical Officer work. The Prime noticed that Ratchet wasn't having any luck and turned to go to his quarters with a sigh and a downtrodden look on his face.

"Optimus", the Autobot leader turned to face the source of the voice, "I know what you're thinking. None of this is your fault, if its anybody's fault its mine. I let them go onto the Nemesis and now I know that I shouldn't have", Ratchet sighed, looking Optimus directly in his bright blue optics.

"Old friend, you and our friends did what you thought was right. I am grateful that they were able to restore us but I can only feel that I have failed them"

With that, Optimus turned back around and resumed walking towards his quarters.

When he got there he sat on his berth and sighed.

Miko, Raf and Jack had melted his war hardened spark. He didn't let it show but on the inside he could feel it. They were like his own sparklings and he had failed to protect them. He had failed to protect his children. He, like the other Autobots would not give up on returning the four humans to where they belonged. Home, with the Autobots.

/-\

~What did Megatron, Dreadwing and Soundwave read that left them unable to speak? How does Soundwave already know things about Raf? What does Megatron do next with the children? Find out next time.


	3. Chapter 3

Megatron had to force himself to get out of his trance and swiftly walk over to the computer. He immediately pulled up the information found on Miko Nakadai and Jackson Darby. The exact same sentence as the one in Raf's file had come up. They may only be humans but surely no one as young as them deserved this.

Primus, to think he wouldn't have even caught onto this if he didn't have a loyal, hard-working communications officer. This is why Jack and Miko had convinced him to leave Raf out of the sparring.

The Mighty Megatron actually felt his spark break.

However he quickly got over this feeling. Why did he feel so upset by this?! They were humans. Inferior.

He tried to push the information to the back of his mind but he just couldn't. What happened to those children was pure evil that had been concentrated in Unicron's spark before being released.

Meanwhile, Dreadwing's processor had gone blank. But when he looked down at the human in his servo a plan blossomed.

"Lord Megatron, I believe I have a way to find out more about this incident"

"And what might that be?", Megatron said in a quiet voice. If he wasn't the fearsome leader of the decepticon army then people might have assumed that the mech was upset.

"We have a human government agent in our possession"

Agent Fowler had just been gaining his senses when we was placed on the side of a computer terminal. He jumped when he realized he was face to face with the decepticon leader.

"Fleshling, I have found information on the three children. I would like you to explain. You are a government agent after all, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! And what sort of information?", Fowler asked.

Megatron scowled while Dreadwing sighed and Soundwave frowned behind his visor.

"These children were tortured in something called District 29 by a professor called Joseph Fredrick. What sort of government allows children to be tortured?!", Megatron demanded, clearly voicing his unhappiness.

"I always thought those kids seemed familiar", Fowler gasped.

"You knew about this?!", Dreadwing questioned in a loud tone, he was also a strongly against the mistreatment of sparklings.

"No. Nobody did. Nobody knew about District 29 until one of its 'failed experiments' came running to the government and telling us everything," Fowler sighed, "I had never been more horrified when I saw people of all different ages in the middle of being tested on or operated on"

"Do you know anything of the children?", Megatron questioned.

"Yes, quite a lot actually. I remember when I first came across them. I had been ordering the squadrons around when I came across three incubators. I looked in them to find three babies that looked like they were approaching the age of one, two males and one female. Its a surprise now as Jack, Miko and Raf are said to be different ages yet they were the same age in that lab. But anyway, they had strange streaks of silver on them"

"Streaks of silver?"

"I questioned the professor about them when we had him locked in an asylum. He said that he had found the children in a different form and thought it would be interesting to test on them, see what they were. He was interested to see what they were. Many people claimed he was crazy after saying that he watched the pod that was carrying them crash into a field nearby"

Dreadwing and Soundwave looked surprised but Megatron stood listening, all of this was adding onto his suspicions.

"This professor hadn't only used the kidnapped or found people as test subjects. He used them to fight for his own personal entertainment. They would fight till the death and the winner would be awarded their life and pleasuring their captor. But anyway, that's where those kids came from, however I would still like to know what those silver streaks were... Shortly after, the kids were sent to care homes."

"Your knowledge has been most useful Agent Fowler. I am going to go and check on the children," Megatron stated before he turned to Dreadwing, "Go and see how KnockOut is getting on with his project and report back to me as soon as"

"Yes, my liege", Dreadwing bowed before he watched Megatron walk away.

Dreadwing looked at Soundwave, "Soundwave, please watch the human"

Soundwave nodded to him and the large seeker took that as his cue to leave.

"You already knew didn't you?"

Soundwave looked down at the human that had just asked him a serious question.

He hesitated a bit before nodding to the human.

"How?"

/-\

Dreadwing had arrived at the med bay and KnockOut approached him with one of those seductive smirks playing on his face.

"What can I do for you now commander? Is the human drooling again?," he taunted.

"Your sense of humor means nothing to me," Dreadwing deadpanned "Lord Megatron sent me here to see how you are getting along with the new project"

"Unfortunately, it may take two earth weeks at the minimum to make it function properly. Its a complex device to create when you are scanning one life form to see if they possess something that another life form does"

"Our master sounded like he wanted the machine done quickly. I don't think he is very happy to have mere human children being a puzzle to him"

"I'm afraid if he wants the machine to work then he will have to wait. However, I do need to check their health so I'll comm him and ask him if he wants healthy pets or not"

"He is attending to the children right now, I'm sure he will bring them by anyway but later on. For now carry on with your project"

"Yes commander," KnockOut smirked as the large seeker began to leave the med bay and head for the control room.

Dreadwing was walking down the dark, long corridors of the Nemesis as he commed his leader.

"Dreadwing, what is the update on the project?"

"KnockOut says it could take over 2 earth weeks, my liege. He said its a complicated device and needs to be built properly or it will not function"

Megatron growled, a clear indication that he was unhappy.

"As long as its built as soon as possible"

With that Megatron ended the comm link.

/-\

Megatron turned one of the corridors of the Nemesis to where his quarters were.

He reached the door and typed in the code to grant him entry.

The warlord walked in to find the humans in a doggy pile, snuggled up against each other. After all, it was pretty cold in his quarters...

The war-hardened mech looked at the three tiny beings and couldn't help but think that they looked... Almost adorable. Almost.

He sat next to them and began to stroke their backs gently.

"Fleshlings," he said loudly with a firm tone that was enough to make them stir.

When they opened their eyes they looked at each other with sleepy eyes and smiled, praising the lord that non of them were harmed.

Their smiles faded when they felt themselves being lifted up and saw the decepticon tyrant that had kidnapped them.

"Did you rest well, my little guests?," he asked in a dark tone.

They all murmured their answers. Megatron chose to pay no attention to this and decided to ask them about their past.

"I was told by Agent Fowler and information found about you three that you were kept in a place called District 29"

All three children bowed their heads at this comment but Megatron used a finger to lightly lift them back up so that they were looking him in the optics.

"I now understand why you were hesitant when it came to fighting and stopping your young friend from becoming involved," he said to Jack and Miko.

"Well, he's like our little brother. Of course we're gonna protect him. We didn't want him to be the one screaming from the pain of fighting like the ones we once heard in the District," Miko stated and Jack nodded in agreement.

"I think you mean he is your-," Megatron stopped, knowing that these children didn't know the full truth, "Jack, Miko. How about you get washed up. You worked very hard and deserve it," he carried on with a caring tone and a forced smile.

All three kids shot him confused looks. This was so not like the decepticon leader. Fair enough they'd only been there for a day but they were pretty sure he didn't act like this. Especially after what they'd seen in battle and heard from the 'bots.

"U-uhh...," Jack hesitated.

"How do we know you won't try anything?," Miko demanded.

"Do not speak to me with such a tone, sparkling," Megatron growled softly.

Raf flinched at the light scolding which gave the 'con leader all the more reason to want to speak to him.

Megatron scooped up Miko and Jack, leaving Raf on his berth looking shocked. He took the two teenagers to his private wash racks which was directly opposite to his berth room. Raf watched as the warlord took his two best friends into the wash racks with a worried look. He didn't want to be left completely alone on a giant alien warship that belongs to an army of evil colossal robots that want to take over Earth.

Megatron pulled out a small bucket. Well, the bucket was small to him, more like a small swimming pool to the two humans. He filled it up with warm water and mixed some solution into it that would help relax them and clean them. He could tell they were tense and after their horrible past he couldn't blame them.

Megatron honestly had no idea what forced him to actually help these fleshlings and allow them to wash. Heck, he was even putting in a solution that would relax them. What was going through his mind?!

Despite what he was thinking his spark kept control of what he was doing. It just felt right to be treating these children like this.

He put Jack and Miko on the floor next to the bucket he had filled up.

"What's that stuff you put in?," Jack asked suspiciously.

"It is a solution that will help relax you," Megatron turned to Jack.

"How do we know that we're not gonna burn alive when we step in there?," Miko questioned, her eyes squinted.

"You really have an imaginative mind," Megatron chuckled

"So, you're sure that nothing will happen when we get into that?," Miko asked, still very suspicious of this whole thing.

"Well, you'll relax and you realize that you were being immature about this whole thing," he replied with a smirk.

Megatron then turned and left the wash racks, allowing the doors to automatically close behind him. He walked over to Raf and looked down at him.

Raf looked back at him with fear in his eyes and gulped. Out of all the 'cons on the ship he could have gotten stuck with alone it was Megatron...

"Calm yourself, little one. I'm not going to hurt you"

Raf didn't say anything, just nodded.

"Soundwave mentioned that you helped him with something that he was confused about. The fact that my communications chief was confused by something was amazing enough as it is but then the fact that a mere human helped him was unbelievable," the decepticon lord kept his optics on the young boy trying to see if his body language would give away signs of what he was thinking.

"I find patterns and algorithms fascinating, being able to crack one as interesting as that was a joy to me," Raf stated quietly.

"How old are you, little one?"

"12"

"And your friends?"

"Miko is 15 and Jack is 16"

"Interesting age difference," Megatron thought back to what the human agent had said about all three of them being newborn sparklings at the same time. This was very strange...

"You are all young, but compared to my race and our longer lives, you are a only a few stellar-cycles old," Megatron told the boy who looked up at him with boy curiosity and a confused look on his face.

"A stellar-cycle is something similar to what you would call a month"

"Wow, I didn't know Cybertronians lived that long. Optimus said that your race have longer lives by humans but I didn't think he meant that much!"

The decepticon leader chuckled at the boys shocked look and softly stroked his head. Raf flinched when this happened and started shaking in fear.

"Little one, I've already told you that I'm not going to hurt you"

Raf nodded and smiled a little bit.

Megatron didn't miss the warm feeling in his spark when he was by the children, this one in particular. But when he was with all of them at the same time, the warmth and happiness invaded his spark. He would have to speak to KnockOut about this later.

He decided he should go and check on the other two children. Primus knows what they could have done in there...

/-\

Miko and Jack had been bathing calmly... Well they'd had to figure out how they would bathe without their parts being shown.

But anyway, they were having a nice relaxing time until something cold entered their chests.

"Jack, I feel cold", Miko whined.

"Me too. Maybe its the water?"

"No, if it was then my whole body would be cold. Its just the centre of my chest"

"That's weird because that's exactly what I fell", Jack gasped.

"What is it?!" Miko began to panic.

"Miko, calm down. Its probably just nothing. It'll pass" Jack tried to calm Miko but he was panicking himself.

Just as Miko was about to shout at Jack, Megatron walked in and saw the kids were scared out of their minds.

"What is wrong?", he questioned.

"Do we look like we know?!" Miko screamed at him.

Normally Megatron wouldn't allow such a tone from a sparkling, especially a human sparkling but he could sense the fear. He could feel the coldness they were feeling.

He tested the feeling by replacing the coldness with a warm, comforting feeling.

His optics widened when both kids immediately calmed down.

Surely his mate couldn't have... No. She died before they could. Unless she was expecting when she died?

This was beginning to excite the warlord. Surely these couldn't be his children?!

I mean, its pretty obvious that he shares a bond with them...

Well, he is definitely going to be visiting KnockOut later.

"Children, I think you've had long enough to wash and relax. You two and your younger friend will be visiting KnockOut with me later for a check-up"

"Since when did you care about our health?", Jack questioned with his eyes narrowed.

"I've always cared", Megatron said acting hurt.

"Mhm" Miko looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Start getting dried off and ready" Megatron ordered before leaving his wash racks.

When Megatron had left the room, the onyx haired boy turned to his friend.

"Don't you think that was a bit weird?"

"That whole thing was weird"

"The whole thing?"

"Yeah, didn't you realize that as soon as buckethead walked into the room he looked horrified when he saw we were freaking out?"

"Wow, Miko. I didn't think you were that observant" Jack joked.

"Oh haha" Miko smiled and lightly punched Jack on his arm.

"Ok, we should start getting ready before Megatron gets mad"

"Okay, I'm gonna go get ready over there" Miko pointed to a corner that looked private enough to get changed in.

She was running over to her chosen corner but was stopped my Jack calling her name.

"Miko! I just thought of something... Its insane but then again, its kind of scary"

"What is it?"

"You know that numb, cold feeling we had in our chests?"

"Uhuh" Miko shrugged.

"Don't you get that feeling when you are having a dream about something you didn't want to remember...?"

/-\

**He watched as his sparkmate slumbered in their shared berth. In between them were three beautiful newborn seekerlets. The oldest of the triplets was snuggled up next to it's mother's chest, the second was sprawled out in the middle which took up more space than a sparkling really needed, and the third was snuggled against his own chest while nibbling on one of his fingers and purring happily.**

**He noticed that the second born of his and his sparkmate's triplets was beginning to stir. He quickly unlatched his finger from his sparkling's mouth and deposited his youngest down on the berth. He then gently picked up and cradled the second to his chest and began murmuring softly and stroking the tiny wing nubs on its back so that the amazingly loud sparkling would hopefully wake up quietly. The last thing he needed was a recharge deprived sparkmate only a week after the birth, two infant sons crying and then the cause of this whole ordeal finding this absolutely hilarious while he had to deal with it all. He could sort of blame himself, of course the loudness was a trait that he had passed on to her. Yes, his little femme definitely was the most adventurous and curious of the three.**

**About a minute later the little femme woke up with a cute little yawn that made her father smile. She looked into his crimson optics with big icy watery blue optics and squealed in delight.**

**"Shhhh now, Bluewing. You don't want to wake up your mother and brothers do you?", her father questioned with a smile knowing full well that the sparkling could neither understand him nor reply.**

**Bluewing just squealed again and her father took that as a 'Yes, I'd love to wake them up so I can laugh'.**

**He shook his head with a small chuckle before bringing his daughter up to his face and nuzzling her tiny frame. He felt her grip his red chevron and try to hug his head but her little arms were too short. He brought his daughter back in front of him then cradled her to his chest before turning to see that his sparkmate was awake and had been watching him.**

**"Good morning, sweetspark", he said.**

**"Good morning, love," Bluewing squealed at her mother who chuckled at her sparkling, "and good morning to you, Bluewing. Has daddy been a good mech this morning?", she cooed.**

**Her daughter replied with yet another squeal which made both her parents chuckle quietly.**

**They heard the sound of babbling and looked down to see the oldest triplet was half awake. Once he had gained his senses, he looked up and saw his creators and his sister in his father's arms. He babbled to his younger brother that was next to him to try and wake him up nicely but only succeeded in making his brother cry. Bluewing giggled along with her older-by-minutes brother at their younger-by-minutes brother.**

**His sparkmate picked up the tiny crying sparkling and held him close to her chest while he picked up his oldest child.**

**"And just to think I thought it would be Bluewing that was cause this", he shook his head.**

**"Well, with these three I think we can expect the unexpected," the femme laughed as she unlatched her breast plate and allowed her youngest sparkling to feed, automatically making him stop crying.**

**When the other two caught sight of this they wanted to feed too and started chirping madly. Unfortunately there were only two nubs and one was currently unavailable leaving one nub between two sparklings.**

**He saw the look on his other half's face and said, "Don't worry, love. I'll take them to go and play in the front room until he is finished then they can come and feed".**

**"Thank you, sweetspark," the femme replied with a small smile.**

**He smiled at her and then turned to the front room with two smiling, chirping sparklings in his arms.**

Starscreams optics shot open and he sat up with a sigh. That was strange, he'd never had any experience like that.

He sighed, looking down.

He loved his sparklings. And he loved his sparkmate. But he feared it was too late. It had been too long and the former Decepticon second in command and air commander had made mistakes. Many mistakes.

Oh how he wished he could be with his sparkmate right now, watching her while they both sat down and played with and taught their beautiful little triplets.

A single energon tear dribbled down his cheek at the thought.

He wanted his family back. He wanted to be able to hold all four of them in his arms and never let them go.

Starscream could not go back to recharge. His spark aching too much to allow him to rest and shut out the universe.

The question still remained. What had made his spark automatically jolt out and look for the creator bond he once shared with his sparklings that were presumed dead?

/-\

~What is Soundwave's secret? What triggered Starscream to have his little dream? How does the kids' check-up go with KnockOut? Find out next time.


	4. Chapter 4

Megatron left his private wash racks to allow the two awkward teens to get changed in private. He went back to his berth and sat down next to the young human. He decided he would continue his conversation with Raf.

"As from what I said earlier, I gathered that you have an advanced mind for a human child"

"Uh, I suppose," the young boy shrugged slightly as he looked down at his feet.

"How do you do it?"

Raf looked up at the Decepticon Lord expecting him to be smirking down at him to highlight his sarcasm but the look he saw on Megatron's face plates was one of pure wonder.

"I don't really know. I like knowledge I guess, I feel like I need to know something knew everyday otherwise my life feels boring"

"You remind me of myself when I was younger. In the golden age on Cybertron I would always read and thrived on knowledge, it is actually how I first came across who you would call Optimus Prime but who I would call Orion Pax," Megatron growled the last part.

"Yeah, Ratchet told us the story when you and the Autobots went to go and defeat Unicron," Raf looked down again and instantly felt saddened by the mention of the 'bots, "Um, sir?"

Megatron looked down at the young boy with a surprised expression, he didn't realize that human children would know how to respect others, "What is it, little one?"

"When will I be allowed to go home and see my family and the 'bots again?," he looked up at Megatron with a spark breaking look but being a warlord the look had no such effect on the giant mech in front of him.

The tyrant felt a strange twinge inside of him. Jealousy. Red hot jealousy.

Megatron glared down at the young boy and growled softly so he didn't completely scare the boy, "Lets not begin asking silly questions now."

Raf looked down. It was a light scolding but he was a sensitive kid. Not only that but he was young and had gone through more that a grown adult would ever have to go through.

Megatron was about to command the boy to look up but stopped when he heard a frustrated sigh coming from the wash racks.

Megatron smirked as he heard the two human teens bickering like an old bonded couple, he glanced down and saw that Raf was giggling.

"Are they always like this?," Megatron asked with an optic ridge raised.

"Yeah, kind of," Raf said as his face began to light up with amusement as the bickering became louder.

CLANG!

"OW MIKO!"

"I TOLD YOU TO PREPARE YOURSELF!"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE MY ASS WILL OPEN A GIGANTIC DOOR MADE FOR ROBOTS?!"

"IT WAS WORTH A TRY PLUS YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED ME!"

"YOU HAD ALREADY GRABBED ME AND STARTED TO TRY AND RAM ME INTO THE DOOR!"

"I suppose I should go and open the door for them," Megatron shook his head with amusement. These little beings were like his own private circus.

Raf didn't listen because he was having a laughing fit, rolling around on the berth. He found Miko's determination and Jack's stubbornness absolutely hilarious when they were clashing in an argument!

Megatron smirked at the youngster before turning and allowing the door to automatically open and watched the stormy blue eyed boy and the vibrant girl fall the floor and look around confused.

"I told you I could open it," Miko stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, girl, you opened it," the Decepticon leader rolled his bright red optics, "did you two have a nice wash?," he asked calmly.

"Um, yeah?," Jack answered confused that the mech would even bother to ask them if they enjoyed it. He didn't even believe that he wanted them to be clean, but hey, he felt nice so what the heck.

Megatron nodded as he seemed pleased with himself and then he picked up the two children on the floor and then turned to grab the youngest off of the berth.

"We can walk you know," Miko stated in an agitated tone.

"Watch your mouth, sparkling," Megatron warned the young girl once again for her attitude towards him, "I was assuming that you didn't want to walk all they way to the med bay"

"Why are we going to the med bay?," asked Jack.

"KnockOut will be running some scans on you all, I don't want my pets to be unwell now do I?,"

That wasn't exactly the truth. Megatron wanted to ask KnockOut about the feeling he got when he was around the children and how it changed depending on which one he was around. He looked down and watched as he felt the three humans he was currently carrying sigh and fall limp against him.

/-\

"Ratchet, how is the decoding of the Decepticon cloaking coming along?," Optimus asked calmly.

Everyone knew that Optimus was not calm though. Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee may be the main guardians of the human children but Optimus still felt that they were his charges too.

"It's difficult, Optimus, I can't seem to find any part where I can dig in and begin," the old medic sighed shaking his helm.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee looked at Ratchet with saddened expressions.

"Ratch, are you sure. There has to be a way in! It can't just be completely unbreakable!"

"Bulkhead, I have tried over and over again but i'm just going around in circles"

Just as Bulkhead was about to demand that Ratchet wasn't doing enough, Arcee came speeding back into base with June. It had been almost a week and June looked rough. She not only had the sadness of losing her son to the Decepticons but she also had to lie to both Raf's family that he was staying at their house to finish a project with Jack and Miko's host parents with the exact same story.

"Ms Darby, how are you?," the Prime asked the forlorn woman as she got off Arcee and allowed the two-wheeler to transform back into humanoid mode.

"Well, for starters I feel guilty that I have to lie to two families and then every time I speak to them it only reminds me of my Jackson. Gone, completely ripped away from me," she whimpered in reply.

Arcee could only look at the poor woman with sad optics, she knew exactly what June was going through.

"I am truly sorry, Ms Darby. I can only blame myself for this incident," Optimus bowed his head in a form of apology.

"It wasn't your fault, Optimus," June smiled slightly at the colossal red and blue leader.

"It must be hard. I mean, it must be hard, having the person you brought into this world and raised just suddenly taken from you," Bulkhead stated.

Bumblebee beeped angrily at Bulkhead as Ratchet swatted him over the helm.

"No, you guys its fine. I think it is time you guys found out the truth anyway"

"Truth?," Arcee questioned.

"Jack, Miko and Rafael are all adopted," she heard gasps, "they had been through experiments at a place called District 29 which had been a hidden facility under the control of a Professor named Joseph Fredrick. All I know is that the government wanted them to be split and sent to new homes immediately. I was given all the information as I got Jack from a care home. I didn't know of Raf and Miko and their futures, so when I heard Jack mention them I was suspicious, I had to see them for myself. When I did, I realized that they were together again and it made me want to keep the secret under an even tighter lock. I didn't want to put them in danger, some of Professor Fredrick's scientists are still out there and I didn't want them to go through it all again," June was starting to cry, "there is one memory that constantly haunts me. Jack kept on coming to me about once every week when he was about 6 and stopped around 10 or 11. He kept telling me that he was having a nightmare with an evil man and two other babies next to him. I had to tell him what happened, what he went through. I couldn't leave him having this re-occurring memory thinking it was a nightmare. I told him the story and had to twist it a bit. I told him that he was stolen from me and I got him back in the end. Both Miko and Raf were told the same story when they complained about the nightmares, so I was told."

"Wait, so Jack, Miko and Raf don't know they're adopted?," Ratchet asked with a shocked expression.

He was not the only one with a shocked expression. All the 'bots including Optimus had looks of absolute surprise on their face plates. Now that was something they had not expected.

"The children were experimented on?," Optimus asked, his anger rising in his spark.

"The children cannot know that they're adopted, it would ruin the cover up and compel them to go in search of the Professor. And yes, Optimus, they were tested on from when they were found"

"Found?," Bulkhead was asking his question now.

"Yes, I was never told where or when though"

"What puzzles me is the age difference between the children if they were all babies at the same time," Arcee said.

"A government cover up to try and shove away the incident"

"June, I am truly sorry," Arcee said to the devastated nurse, making her sadness crystal clear.

Arcee would help June get her adopted son back and would also go with June on keeping the adoption a secret from Jack if it meant securing his safety. Bulkhead still couldn't believe his best friend was adopted and didn't know it. It angered him that he couldn't be honest but he wanted her to be safe. Bumblebee was also still in shock but he loved his little friend and would do anything to keep Raf away from harm. Optimus and Ratchet shared looks of sympathy. Both never had sparklings of their own but they certainly knew what it was like to lose someone and have to keep a massive secret from them that could affect their life. They would not give up on de-coding that cloaking shield until they found a way in.

They would get through this together. As a family.

/-\

Starscream was still puzzled by what caused his little dream and then the feel of his spark being dragged around, searching for the bond it shared with his sparklings. It had been a few days since he had the dream and now he felt tugging at his spark and he knew that it was not his sparkmate. One, she hates him and doesn't want to speak to him after his actions and two, the tugging wasn't strong enough to have belonged to an adult spark. There were also three different types of tugs, indicating the difference between his three sparklings.

The tugs in his spark could only remind him of the beautiful days before the war was official when he and his sparkmate used to meet in their special place daily. They had bonded a while ago and he could feel the excitement with a mix of worry from her side of the bond as she told him to meet her in their place but she wanted speak to him immediately. At first he wasn't sure what to think. Why would she want to speak to him so suddenly when they had a meeting time at their place. Why couldn't it wait?

**When he got there, he was waiting for his sparkmate and then heard the sound of her engine and next thing he knew she was in his arms, blue optics gleaming with joy.**

**"What is it that was so important you couldn't have waited a few more clicks?," he teased as he kissed her.**

**She looked down, she seemed... Nervous?**

**This was not like his sparkmate. He lifted her helm with one of his sharp claws so their optics met.**

**"What is it, sweet spark?"**

**"Starcream, I... You..."**

**"Go on," he was becoming a bit worried now.**

**"I'm carrying, you're going to be a father," she half smiled at him, unsure if he would be happy or not.**

**It felt like time itself had frozen. He couldn't describe how he felt... Pure happiness?**

**He surprised the frag out of his uncertain sparkmate by pulling her up into his arms and kissing her passionately.**

**"You're okay with this?," she asked.**

**"Of course! I'm going to be having them with you, as long as we both stick together then I am the happiest and luckiest mech alive," he smiled as he pulled her down to the floor and hugged he tightly but not so tight to avoid damaging the small sparks that his bonded was carrying.**

**"Starscream, you do realize that sounded really cheesy, right?," she laughed at him as he nibbled at the cables on her neck.**

**"I know but I don't care," he laughed with her, "how far along are you?"**

**"4 stellar-cycles"**

**"I'm moving in," he declared.**

**"Wow, Star. I forgot how blunt you could be," she giggled.**

**"Well, I want to be there for you and help you every step of the way until our sparkling comes" **

**"Oh, um, one more thing Star," she grinned.**

**"Yes, sweet spark, i'm listening," he said as he continued to nibble and suck at her throat cables.**

**"We're having triplets"**

Starscream remembered that moment well and chuckled lowly at his reaction. Primus had he been wrong when he said sparkling. Not even twins, but triplets!

He got back on track and thought about what he should do about the situation. Should he contact his sparkmate or would she become even more angry at him? He hated that she hated him! If only he had some fragging self-control that time in the command room...

He would leave his sparkmate out of this for now until he was sure. He didn't want to upset her further by bringing back an upsetting memory and then it turns out to be some strange false alarm. Yes, he would try and find his sparklings and then hopefully he and his mate could be one again and have the chance to raise their sparklings together.

/-\

"Ah, Lord Megatron, what can I do for you?," KnockOut asked in greeting as his master walked into the med bay.

"Scan the humans in anyway possible to detect anomalies"

"Of course, my liege," KnockOut replied in his sassy voice.

"I am putting you in charge of them until I return," Megatron stated as he set the children down on the med table where all of KnockOut's tools lay.

"You're not staying for the procedure, my liege?"

"I have other matters that are in need of dealing with"

KnockOut nodded and watched as his leader turned and left after giving the children a look that could easily be translated as 'Stay put or else'.

KnockOut turned to set up the equipment he would need to perform the scans. This involved him having his back to the three mischievous human children.

Raf tapped Miko and Jack on their arms and pointed to the vent that was on the wall... right next to them... No effort needed to even open it as they could already fit through the gaps.

Jack and Miko silently praised their younger friend and began helping each other climb through. Jack kept watch to see if KnockOut turned around at all but he was in his own world preparing the equipment that he would need for the scans that weren't going to be taking place.

They were now all successfully in the venting system and were beginning to walk down when Miko stopped all of them.

"Dudes, we forgot Fowler!," she whispered loudly.

"This is the venting system that most likely leads all around the Nemesis. We can walk around and try and find him," Raf replied.

"Yeah, shouldn't he be in the control room?," Jack added on.

"Yeah, I think so. Lets start finding our way there," Miko carried on walking.

/-\

Megatron was out having a peaceful flight. It had been a while since he had been given the opportunity to leave the ship without any of his mindless followers and be able to focus on his own personal thoughts.

Those children were something important to him. He could just tell, the way his spark reacted when he was near them, how he could control the comfort of them...

It made him think back to the time when his sparkmate wouldn't stop going on about wanting sparklings. Before she died she had practically begged him to have a sparkling and he wasn't going to disappoint her, he loved her too much and he quite liked the thought of becoming a father... And the creation. He chuckled to himself at that thought.

They tried for a sparkling s few times but they never actually managed to confirm that he got her carrying his sparkling because she was killed. It made him wonder if she was with spark at the time of her death because if he remembered clearly, she stopped bugging him as much a couple solar-cycles before her death. These children could be what remained of his sparkmate's spark, their sparklings. There was the belief that Primus handles what happens to unborn sparks if he saw danger in their future, and as much as Megatron hated to say it but Primus probably had a reason. He probably did see the danger that was coming to the sparklings and allowed their sparks to go into human forms.

He was just about to start negotiating with himself if he should tell the children or not but he was interrupted by KnockOut comming him.

"KnockOut, I assume everything is complete"

"Uh, actually no, Lord Megatron," KnockOut sounded worried.

"It shouldn't take that long to scan three human children," Megatron snorted.

"W-well, I suppose if you're doing a scan on three human children then you need to actually h-have t-the three h-human children," the medic now sounded like he wanted to crawl into a hole and away from Megatron who was no doubt VERY annoyed.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU LOST THEM?!"

"I only turned my back for a second and then they were gone, my liege"

"PERHAPS I SHOULD RE-THINK YOUR WORTHINESS!," Megatron screamed at him before cutting the comm link.

He then commed Soundwave, "Soundwave, issue a high alert, the human children have gone missing and need to be found immediately"

He ended the comm link directly after, he could count on Soundwave to do the right thing. He sped back to the Nemesis as fast as he could.

/-\

"Fowler," all three kids whispered to their adult friend.

Agent Fowler looked through the vent and saw the three kids waving at him to join them. He wasted no time and quietly jogged over before Soundwave could notice. The kids began to help him into the vent but Soundwave had just received the comm from his Lord and turned to check on Agent Fowler and saw him and the children in the vent.

He was quick to try and use his tentacles to grab them but missed as they managed to jump further back into the vent after they'd pulled the human adult in.

They began to sprint further into the complex system of passages that seemed to never end.

The four humans could hear Megatron calling to the children. He was calling them to come back calmly and they wouldn't be punished. Agent Fowler could tell it was Megatron speaking but couldn't understand what he was saying, assuming he was speaking in Cybertronian only to become utterly confused when he saw that Jack, Miko and Raf could clearly understand what the tyrant was saying.

They were still running until Jack stopped them and climbed through a vent that was in an isolated room. It looked like a bridge room. They could escape this miserable ship!

They all climbed up onto the controls and began to type in random coordinates, hoping the 'bots would sense the activity and come for them.

Raf had managed to fire up the ground bridge and all of them waited by it.

"Wait, let me go first. I wanna check that its safe before I allow you to go through," Agent Fowler said as he walked through onto grass.

The kids looked back as they heard loud foot steps approaching them, and fast.

/-\

Megatron was now in the control room with Dreadwing, Soundwave and numerous vehicons that were running around. Soundwave's visor suddenly beeped loudly when he detected activity coming from '5th floor Bridge Room'.

"Dreadwing with me!," Megatron commanded and began sprinting towards the room that the humans were supposedly in.

All that was going through Megatrons mind was 'I will not allow those children to leave me. Not if they are possibly what is left of my sparkmate!'

He and Dreadwing raced towards the room with their weapons charged in case of an Autobot attack.

/-\

"Optimus! Agent Fowler's signal is outside the Nemesis and a ground bridge is nearby," Ratchet told his leader.

"Lock onto the coordinates! Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, prepare to transform and roll out!"

The three guardians were more than ready to rumble as they drove through the ground bridge with Optimus.

/-\

Agent Fowler shouted to the 'bots as he saw them run through their ground bridge. They were heading right towards the Decepticon ground bridge. Ratchet had come out as well and picked up Agent Fowler in his servos. He watched as the 'bots put all of their power into speed and tore through the air towards the opposing side's ground bridge. The 'bots were just about to smash through the Decepticon ground bridge when it suddenly closed making the speeding Autobots run right past it.

"NO!," Bulkhead screamed as he smashed his fist into a giant rock nearby.

Bumblebee was beeping angrily and Arcee looked like she wanted to go on a killing spree.

Ratchet looked at Optimus with sympathy as he watched his leaders face turn from one of anger to an upset one.

/-\

Jack, Miko and Raf jumped around and saw Megatron and Dreadwing come running into the room and Dreadwing was quick to close the bridge as Megatron snatched up the three children.

Oh, he was so pissed.

The children knew not to struggle, knowing it would only make things worse for them and stayed put in the vice-like grip of Megatron's servo.

"HOW DARE YOU?!," Megatron screamed at the children making them flinch and look down, "HAVE I BEEN UNFAIR TO YOU?! HAVE I HARMED YOU?! HAVE I DONE ANYTHING ON THIS WARSHIP THAT WOULD GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO RUN FROM ME?!," he continued shouting at them.

None of the children answered, not that he wanted them to.

He completely ignored Dreadwing and began walking towards the cells on that same floor.

When he got there he shoved past the guards, yanked open a cell door and threw the children in not caring if he hurt them or not.

Jack, Miko and Raf were obviously harmed by this. Being thrown down wasn't exactly a pleasure.

Megatron glared at them and growled before ordering the guards to keep watch of the kids.

It was cold in the cell and they were learning that the hard way right now.

Megatron had left them in the cell, scared, in pain and freezing.

/-\

Arcee suddenly felt pain coursing through her spark but she knew it wasn't hers...

She fell to the ground and saw the blurred images of he teammates trying to help her before she blacked out.

/-\

Starscream felt pain tear through his spark and he knew it wasn't his but his sparklings. It angered him that his sparklings were in pain. He wanted to kill whoever was putting them through this pain!

Starscream began to worry and decided it would be best to speak to his sparkmate about this. After all, he didn't know if his sparkmate had caught on yet or not.

/-\

**Arcee snuggled into her sparkmates chest as she watched their three sparklings play on the floor in front of them.**

**Skystorm, the oldest of the triplets was reaching up to try and grab a picture frame and his parents found this to be an amusing sight as there was no way he could reach it.**

**Bluewing, the second of the triplets was busy laughing at her brother's ridiculous attempts to try and grasp something that was far out of his reach.**

**Hayes, the youngest of the triplets was watching his two older-by-minutes siblings responding with little twitches of his growing wings as they did completely illogical things. He liked to sit there and observe them because it was rather hilarious to do so!**

**Arcee watched them as her sparkmate chuckled at them. Their sparklings really were something else.**

**She stood up and picked up Hayes and cradled him to her chest as he gazed up at her with bright blue optics.**

**Her sparkmate came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. Hayes tried to reach for his face and his father chuckled when he gave up with an annoyed sigh and rested against his mother's chest once again. Arcee smiled down at her youngest son and looked over to where her daughter and oldest son were still up to their antics. She smiled in amusement when she thought about how the two would be when they were older, probably causing trouble together. She laughed when the image of her sparkmate running after the two crossed her mind before she turned to her sparkmate and kissed him but pulled away when she felt two tiny bodies press themselves against her legs. Her sparkmate bent down and picked them up easily as they chirped to each other as if they were in some deep discussion about something very serious. Hayes chirped at them and waved his little arms a little as if trying to exaggerate on something that was a vital part of the deep discussion that the seekerlets were having. Bluewing and Skystorm both twitched their developing wings in response to their younger brother and chirped back at him to continue their conversation.**

**The parents shared a laugh as they watched their precious little ones.**

**"Arcee, you did a great job. They're beautiful," her sparkmate said with a smile.**

**"Sweet spark, you're forgetting that you helped with their creation," she smiled as he bent down and captured her lips with his.**

**"Yes, but I know that they definitely got their beauty from you," he winked at her teasingly.**

**"You've always been such a flirt," she chuckled.**

Arcee opened her optics slowly as she gained her senses. She was in the med bay with Optimus and Ratchet.

"Arcee, are you okay?," Optimus asked her as he helped her sit up on the medical berth.

"Yeah just a weird dream, thats all"

"Well, we definitely got an insight on what your dream was about," Ratchet sighed.

"What are you talking about?," she tried to play it off even though she knew it was no use.

"Why didn't you tell us about your sparklings, Arcee?," Optimus asked calmly as his optics gazed into hers.


	5. Chapter 5

**WARNING: Slight interfacing session in this chapter but ****very brief****.**

It was quiet on the Nemesis to the point someone might have thought that they were in the time period before the big commotion with the humans being captured. However, you could just about hear snoring coming from the med bay, not from one person but from three.

Jack's stormy dark blue eyes opened slowly as he woke up. Next to him were his two best friends sleeping soundly. Sleeping soundly... He could've sworn he was freezing before he fell asleep and now hear he was feeling warm, comfortable and... Relaxed?

Something was soothing him and providing the warmth, the teenage boy knew it wasn't a blanket or duvet because he was pretty sure he couldn't feel one when he moved his hands around on the surface of the cell. The cell...

The cell floor was rough but this surface was warm and smooth until there was a gap that dipped into a sort of light hole. Then there was this pattern that he could feel, just tracing his fingers over it.

He had finally gained his senses and realized that he and his friends were in fact not in the cell that they were thrown into the previous night. They were on Megatron's chest, resting directly over his spark chamber. Jack shot upright and began to panic. He was on the Decepticon leader's chest, snuggled up close to him after he had left them injured and scared in the cold cell that eventually made them pass out from the freezing temperature.

Megatron could feel the panic coming from one of the humans, thought it was weak he could tell which one it was coming from. The 'oldest' of the trio. Jack.

He opened his optics just enough so that he could see but not enough to allow anyone to find out that he was awake. He saw the boy sat up and shaking. He decided to conduct a little test and sent 'safety' to Jack. The boy instantly stopped shaking and his upright posture slumped as he accepted the comfort.

But then Jack stood and began to try and wake his friends. Some weird safe feeling had just completely entered him, someone else's emotions, not his! It wasn't possible!

Jack was gently shaking his friends, successfully rousing them from their sleep and they both looked aggravated.

"Jack, when I'm sleeping... DON'T WAKE ME UP!" Miko screamed and caused Megatron to fully open his optics. After all, what sort of being wouldn't wake up after being in the same room as the girl that had just produced the scream of the century, so he had to play along and 'wake up'

"Miko, you didn't need to shout," Raf moaned, "But seriously, Jack. Why wake us?"

Jack looked at his friends then realized that Megatron was awake and decided to change his excuse for waking them... even if it was pretty pathetic.

"Girl, I swear I'm going to get KnockOut to attach a voice level controller to you," Megatron dead panned, he was not a fan of hearing high pitched screams and shouts in the morning after he had woken up just a few minutes ago.

"It wouldn't have happened if Jackson here didn't wake me up," she hissed.

"I had a reason!" Jack hissed back at her.

"Oh yeah, what was it then?!"

"..."

"Jack, really?" Raf moaned yet again.

"No, I, uhhhmmmmm..."

Megatron raised an optic ridge as he watched him struggle with his words.

"I just wanted to say 'hi'," he smiled at the two humans and cybertronian in front of him.

"FU-"

"MIKO! NOT IN FRONT OF RAF!"

"Fine, Raf close your eyes"

Raf did as he was told and turned away, Miko smiled and thanked Raf before turned towards Jack.

Megatron watched the human teens with interest, what in the pits of Kaon were they doing?

Miko smiled sweetly at Jack before her face screwed up and she brought her hand up, middle finger the only finger straight.

"Oh haha, Miko. Real mature," he rolled his eyes.

"Raf you can open your eyes now," Miko almost sung to him.

"Was that it?" Megatron had definitely been expecting more, not a simple hand gesture, "I don't see what the point of it is," he said with a puzzled look.

"It is meant as an offence to someone. A rude gesture," Jack told the puzzled leader.

"And you're not offended by it?" he asked.

"No." Jack poker faced, "its Miko, she's a close friend and can sort of get away with that stuff with me but if she did it to someone else then she would probably get in trouble or offend someone"

"Why don't you try it on your troops?" Miko beamed.

"Because I don't waste my energy on inferior beings," he said bluntly as his red optics studied them.

"But according to you we are inferior beings and you're wasting your energy on us," Raf said innocently.

"Yes, but there is something that separates you from other people of your kind. Something very intriguing about the three of you, especially when together"

"So if we're different and intriguing then why did you throw us into a cold cell?" Jack glared at the Decepticon Lord.

Megatron looked like he almost flinched. Almost. He cupped the three children in his left servo as he sat up on his berth and swung his legs over the side.

"You worried me, as I said before, there is something that separates you from others of your kind and I didn't want you to leave before I could at least find out what it is that makes you so different," Megatron sighed.

He wanted to tell them the truth. About how there is a massive possibility that they could be his sparklings but it would be too far and probably drive them to want to escape again if they thought he was going bonkers.

The kids looked up from their place on his lap. The mech was... worried?

"You were worried?" Raf asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes, which is why I was angry at the three of you," he looked down at them and met their questioning gazes, "and also... I... am... sorry if I caused you pain," he looked away from them. How embarrassing! He had never had to say that to anyone in his life especially to humans! But there was a chance that these children were not proper humans and were his sparklings and surely a parent was meant to care for their child. That involved apologizing and thanking.

Miko, Raf and Jack all stared up the silver warlord that had kidnapped them with looks of absolute confusion. He was sorry? This was not like the Decepticon Leader that they knew and had heard stories about.

Before anything else could be said, a walking bright red being came into the med bay.

"Good, you're all awake," he smirked at the children, "my liege I have completed the test and have answers for you," he bowed slightly to his leader.

"Do not keep me waiting, KnockOut," Megatron said as he stood up with the children cupped in his servos.

"Well, the human sparklings seem to possess certain anomalies that wouldn't allow a human heart to function, these anomalies however, are perfect for a spark to function which made me question how they were still alive. I then took a further look and compared their hearts to your spark and it showed a familiar pattern. They somehow, share a bond with you, Lord Megatron"

"What sort of bond?" Megatron asked, the excitement building up inside him.

"I cannot tell. the scans cannot go that deep but there is definitely energy being exchanged even if it is only a small, weak amount. However, when I have finished the machine that you requested, that should be able to tell as it is a machine that is created to detect those sorts of things," the medic told his leader.

Megatron felt the happiness in his spark deflate but not entirely. Fair enough he didn't know what sort of bond he had with the children but it was obviously a large one that was shared between the four of them and slowly becoming stronger.

"KnockOut, I want you to focus on that machine and that machine only. I will order others to take your shifts so that you may have more time to finish the machine and complete it faster"

"Thank you, my liege. That machine is officially my number one priority... Well apart from buffing," KnockOut shrugged.

"How about I crush the buffing tools so you're quicker?" Megatron sneered.

"N-no, my liege. Its fine, I won't use them until I have completed my number one goal of building the machine," KnockOut said nervously.

"Make sure you stick to that," the tyrant snorted

He began walking out of the med bay and stared down at the children in his servos, not believing what he was seeing. They were completely frozen, the only sort of movement he could feel from them were their lungs expanding and shrinking as they breathed.

"Humans," Megatron said loudly to try and capture their attention.

They turned and looked at him with horrified expressions. Not the sort of expressions he thought they would look at him with but they were new to the whole bond thing so he would let it pass... Just this once.

He decided he would head back to his quarters. He was still fairly worn out and the children looked stressed to the point they could do with a nap.

Megatron tapped in the code to his personal quarters and lay down on his berth. He pushed the children up to his chest where his spark was located and lay them down on it. They immediately calmed down when they felt the radiating warmth and comfort that surrounded them and it started to make them feel tired.

The Decepticon Lord watched as the three young humans he shared a bond with were lulled to sleep by the calm beating of his spark. It made him wonder if he really did have a creator bond with these sparklings, it only seemed logical. Eventually he gave up on wondering about what sort of bond he shared with them and allowed recharge to overtake him. He would just have to wait until KnockOut had finished with the machine.

/-\

"Sparklings? Yeah, Optimus, I have sparklings..." Arcee replied sarcastically, rolling her optics in an attempt to make her argument seem true.

"Arcee, do not try to fool us," Ratchet almost scolded her, "You were talking during your recharge and we heard everything"

"Everything?" Arcee asked feeling worry build up inside of her.

"Your sparklings sound like they were little troublemakers," Optimus gave her one of his rare smiles.

Arcee had coolant building in her eyes after that comment. She sighed and decided she may as well come clean, "Yeah, they definitely got that from their sire," she half smiled, not sure if she should be smiling at her reply.

"One more thing, who is the sire?" Ratchet asked.

"Uh..."

"Ratchet, do not rush Arcee. She will tell us when she feels she is comfortable,"

Arcee looked at him with a thankful smile while Ratchet muttered something under his breath and began to continue his attempts at breaking through the Nemesis' cloaking device. When they were sure that the medic had completely zoned out after allowing his mind to become dedicated to finding a way to break through the cloak Optimus turned to Arcee.

"Arcee, I know you are not one for expressing emotions when it comes to sensitive issues but I want you to know that I and the rest of Team Prime will be here to help. You can speak to me anytime," he gazed down at her with a slight smile.

"Thanks, Optimus," she replied with a small smile of her own and then stood and walked out of the med bay, planning on heading back to her quarters.

She was quickly stopped by Bumblebee and Bulkhead bombarding her with questions, asking what happened, how she feels, if she is okay, if she is in pain...

"I'm fine guys, really," she gave a small laugh at their worrying.

"You didn't look so fine when you fell to the ground whimpering in pain," Bulkhead said to her as Bumblebee beeped in agreement.

_::Yeah, 'Cee. You scared all of us, especially Optimus, you should have seen the look on his face plates. Its as if he-::_

"Uh, Bee..." Bulkhead interrupted him with a light punch to the arm.

Bumblebee looked at him with question dancing in his optics but they soon turned wide with the thought of "WHOOPS" when Bulkhead nodded towards the entrance of the med bay and saw Optimus staring at him, not once moving.

_::Haha, ooookkkaaaaayyyyy... SHEESH, I am one tired 'bot. Gonna go rest in my quarters BYE:: _

Bumblebee was quick to run down the hallway towards his quarters. Bulkhead and Arcee laughed at their friend and his antics while Optimus was watching the direction that Bumblebee had run off to.

"Well, I've gotta go on patrol so take care, 'Cee,"

Arcee nodded at him in farewell and then looked over in Optimus' direction.

"What was that about?" she asked.

He simply looked at her and shook his head slightly, "Arcee..." the Prime stumbled, trying to choose his words without looking like a complete fool "... I care very much for as I do the rest of Team Prime. I do not want anymore of my soldiers to be lost or damaged,"

"From the way 'Bee explained it sounded like something a little bit different,"

"Bumblebee is young,"

"And?"

Optimus was quiet for a minute or two until it seemed he had gathered his bearings and was about to reply until...

"Optimus!" Ratchet called from the med bay.

Optimus sighed and allowed his optics to lock with Arcee's before he walked calmly to Ratchet even though he seemed a little agitated.

"Yes, Ratchet?"

"I have received an encrypted message addressed to Arcee,"

"Who from?" Arcee joined the conversation.

Ratchet tapped a few buttons and up popped a picture that Arcee hoped she would never see for the rest of her life-cycle.

"Starscream," he muttered "He wants to meet with you at the coordinates that he has provided,"

"Bridge me there, Ratchet," she growled.

"I will not allow it. Arcee, if he wants to meet with you alone then it is imperative that we must think of the possibilities of what he is planning,"

"But Optimus, you don't understand. I'll be fine. He won't,"

Arcee really wanted to go and meet him. She wanted to see that he was okay even though she hated him. She wanted to feel his touch again even though she loathed him completely. She wanted to feel his spark energy mixing with hers even though she despised him...

She also needed to speak to him about that problem involving sparklings. She had to go!

"Arcee, I cannot let you go alone-"

"Optimus," she touched his arm softly with her servo, "I'll be fine, please just trust me on this,"

His spark fluttered and he seemed to immediately calm down when she touched him but he continued his act and sighed, he had to let her go. If she wanted this then he wouldn't want to disappoint her by not allowing her to go. But then there was the large possibility of danger and he didn't want her to get hurt or offlined. However he finally gave into her wishes.

"Be careful," he said as he looked her in the optics with a soft look but let her know that he was partly ordering her.

"Thank you, Optimus," she turned to Ratchet, "I'll take that bridge now, Ratch,"

The swirling vortex that was the ground bridge burst to life and Arcee walked through. When she stepped out of it she took in the beautiful surroundings. She was on a cliff that had a small stream of water that led to a small pond. The cliff looked over a forest looking place and she realized that she was just at the edge of the forest that was on the same level as her. The sun was dazzling brightly and she was relaxed by the sound of the water from the pond and stream trickling. The trees that coated the land around her were covered in different coloured leaves ranging from a purple to a red. The sight was astonishing and then she realized that was what Starscream wanted her to think. Oh well, she would say what he wanted her to say. She wasn't going to lie like a young femmling.

She turned and her optics landed on the sight of Starscream, who must have come up behind her because his face was only a few inches from hers. He must have planned this scenic view from the start! Such a flirt, like back on Cybertron before the war broke out, she smirked internally.

"Arcee..." he said quietly as he reached a servo out and stroked her cheek softly with those sharp, sinful talons.

"What is it that you want, Starscream?" she said his name as if it left a vile taste in her mouth.

"Arcee, I'm sorry for everything. I realized when I began to devote myself more and more to the cause that I wasn't seeing you as much. And then the incident with Cliffjumper... I'm going to be honest and say that I do not have an excuse for his murder. I know you hate me and I don't blame you because I hate me too. But I have two reasons for inviting you here, sweet spark,"

CLANG!

"OUCH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Starscream squealed as he rubbed his now aching helm.

"That was for 'Cliff," she sneered.

"As I was saying, I have two reasons for this," he began again.

"To be honest, the only reason I came is because I needed to discuss something with you," she sighed as she moved forward and placed her helm under his chin and rested herself against his chest.

"And what might that be?" he asked softly as he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his helm on top of hers. His spark beat increased at the contact that had been made with his sparkmate after so many years.

She was quick to push away from him, tears dripping down her face.

"I should hate you, Starscream! I should hate you for extinguishing Cliffjumper, for joining the Decepticons, for giving us a reason to have to send our sparklings away!" she shouted at him before she said quietly "But, I can't, Star..."

Starscream felt his spark breaking as she brought back those old memories from Cybertron that had torn them both apart.

"Arcee, trust me, I hate myself for causing you pain. But this is war, what do you think happens in them?! People die!" he apologized but argued back at the same time.

"But you knew how close 'Cliff and I were! You knew and you were jealous that he was my best friend, my partner!" she shouted angrily back at him "if you cared you wouldn't have killed the only person that I could trust!"

He felt his spark continue to break as the words pierced him. Was Cliffjumper really the only person she could trust?

"I do care!" he shouted back, feeling tears building up in his crimson optics.

"Then tell me your real reason for killing 'Cliff," she growled although she could feel her own tears about to fall.

Starscream sighed, his helm drooped as he stepped closer to his sparkmate. He then lifted his helm and looked directly into her optics. Her beautiful blue optics that had the faintest line of purple surrounding the inner circle. Her beautiful optics that he would look into every night back on Cybertron as they watched the two moons glow in the peaceful dark of the night.

"I was jealous that he was the person that you would trust more than me. The person that you would spend almost every minute with. The person that made you laugh. The person that was always there for you. I wanted to be that person but I failed to realize that I was too late after the things I did back on Cybertron," he felt a tear slide down his ashen face plates.

"You know, none of this would have happened if you hadn't joined the Decepticons," she said softly although he could tell it was a low quip.

"I know, my spark. And if I could then I would take everything back and correct it, but I can't..."

"Starscream-"

"Please, Arcee. Forgive me," He begged as he pressed his forehelm to hers, both of them closed their optics and indulged in the closeness of their sparks becoming close yet again.

"... I need your help with something," she carried on with what she originally came here for.

He let out a breath sadly as he didn't get a reply to his request, "Anything, sweet spark,"

"After a recent situation with the Decepticons... I... I felt... pain, coming from our sparklings and it made me pass out. I dreamt about the time when they were just beginning to move their wings and beginning their sparkling babble," she smiled at the memory "But it was strange, because the bond with our sparklings hasn't been active for years, we thought they were dead and then the next thing you know the bond told me that they were close,"

Starscream stared at her, his mouth slightly open and his optics wide with shock.

"I have been experiencing the same thing, my spark. Apart from I dreamt of when our sparklings were only about an stellar-cycle old when Bluewing had figured out she could make loud noises and I thought she would wake you all up. It turned out that all of you were awake apart from Hayes and Skystorm decided to wake him up" he chuckled at the fond memory "...This was actually one of the reasons I needed to speak to you. I was going to investigate by myself at first just in case it turned out to be a strange false alarm, I didn't want to upset you if I told you and I was completely wrong. But now I am sure that I can feel our sparklings, all three of them,"

"We have to find them, Star," she almost begged.

"I know and we will," he said quietly as he leaned in to kiss her.

His lips pressed against hers and he felt a wave of relief when she didn't pull away. This encouraged him to take this a bit further and he slid his glossa along her lips, asking for entrance. She opened her mouth and allowed his glossa to become tangled with hers as they explored each others mouths once again. As they tasted each other once again.

Arcee lifted a servo and began rubbing soothing circles on his sensitive wings making them twitch. This made him moan and she smiled into the kiss as she watched him wriggle slightly under the treatment. Starscream was quick to move one of his servos further down and started to stroke softly yet teasingly at her thighs. She gasped with a mix of shock and pleasure.

Starscream slowly pulled her down to the ground with him and he began kissing her up and down her body sending ripples of pleasure up her frame.

"Why don't you contact your team and tell them not to bother us for a while" he almost whispered as he continued sucking on her thighs.

**/Arcee to base, do you copy?/**

**/Yes, Arcee. Do you need a ground bridge?/** Optimus replied.

**/No actually. I was just calling to say that I need some alone time. Starscream has gone and I just want to get a bit of fresh air while I think about some things before I return to base./** Arcee told her leader hoping he would buy it.

**/Contact us when you need a bridge****./****/** Arcee could hear the understanding in Optimus' voice and felt slightly guilty.

**/Thank you, Optimus. Arcee out****./****/** she ended the comm link and turned back to her sparkmate who was currently dragging his slick glossa across her groin panel and made her moan.

She could feel herself warming up and becoming moist with lubricant as Starscream continued to pleasure her. Starscream smirked as he watched her writhe underneath his touch and felt his groin plating become very uncomfortable. He suddenly felt something tugging at his red chevron and looked up to see it was Arcee motioning for him to come back up and be face to face with her. He did as she wanted and they both shared a passionate kiss as he undid both of their groin plating. He crawled on top of her, supporting his weight on his arms that were on either side of her helm and looked at her with an expression that requested permission and smiled softly when she nodded. He felt the excitement burning within him and kissed her gently as he smoothly thrusted his hips into hers, moaning as the warmth surrounded him. It only made him want to pleasure even more when he heard her moan as she felt him within her.

Hours of moaning, groaning and overloads sped by and eventually they were both lying next to each other absolutely spent They watched the sun go down as it stained the sky with light streaks and shades of orange and pink as the comfortable silence enveloped them. It was beautiful. Everything was perfect. Well, not totally prefect but the moment they had just shared was a reminder of how much they loved each other and need one another to keep them going. They both clipped their groin plating back on and wiped as much lubricant off of them as they could before they shared another kiss.

"You said you came here for two reasons. You explained that the first was the same as my intention but you failed to explain your second one," Arcee said to him tiredly as she felt his spark beat against her own.

"I wanted you to forgive me," he replied sounding just as tired.

"I still hate you for what you did, Star,"

"I know," he smiled slightly.

Starscream watched as his beloved sparkmate fell into recharge in his arms with her head pressed underneath his chin, their sparks beating in sync. Their love had not been fully restored but in time it would be. The grey and red seeker just hoped that he could fix it in time, show his sweet spark that he was truly sorry and work with her to find their sparklings that had mysteriously popped up somewhere. Somewhere that was yet to be discovered.

/-\

"Optimus, please be calm. You know that Arcee is probably upset about her sparklings after her dream brought back memories of them" Ratchet tried to reassure his worried leader.

"I know but I cannot help but worry. It has been hours, she has not contacted base since she asked to be left alone and we do not know what happened between her and Starscream" Optimus sighed.

"I'm sure she is fine. She _is _one of your toughest warriors"

Optimus stopped his worrying and chuckled lowly. Yes, she was tough and could definitely look after herself. That was one of the many things he liked about her. However, he still couldn't understand what Starscream wanted with her.

"Ratchet, fire up the ground bridge" he ordered.

"Optimus, are you sure? She did ask to be alone."  
"I must know that she is safe"

"Why are you trying to keep her close to you?" Ratchet questioned with his optics squinted.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You want to keep her close to you, like a human would do with one of their pet dog things"

"I like to keep all of Team Prime safe, Ratchet. Fire up the ground bridge" Optimus was beginning to get annoyed.

"You have feelings for her" Ratchet looked his leader in the optics.

That caught Optimus off guard and he froze for a minute before replying "I have feelings for every member of this team whether they are Cybertronian or Human" he growled.

"You know if she has... _had_ sparklings then there is the possibility that she might already have a sparkmate" Ratchet pointed out, testing his leader to the max.

"Ratchet, fire up the ground bridge. That is an order!" Optimus raised his voice to the medic, surprising himself and Ratchet.

"Yes, Prime" he murmured as he pulled down the lever that allowed the ground bridge to swirl into existence.

Optimus spared Ratchet one last glance before he turned and walked through the ground bridge to the location where Starscream had met with Arcee. His optics widened at the sight that lay ahead of him...

There was Arcee recharging soundly... In the arms of Starscream who had curled himself around her slightly in his recharge. He felt the realization hit him over the helm...

Starscream is the sire of her sparklings. Starscream is her sparkmate.

He slowly walked over to the recharging sparkmates and gently shook Arcee to try and rouse her from her sleep. She woke up slowly but surely and her optics widened in shock when they focused on Optimus.

"Optimus! What are you doing here?!" she exclaimed loud enough that it woke up Starscream.

She stood up, not wanting to be lying on the ground as she spoke to her leader.

"Ugh, what is it sweet spark?" he questioned but no longer expected a reply when he saw a wide opticed Optimus Prime staring at him. He too quickly jumped up to his pedes next to his sparkmate.

"Optimus, I can explain" Arcee quickly said.

The Prime turned his attention to her "Why didn't you just tell me, Arcee?" he rumbled.

"B-because... I don't know. It's difficult, I suppose..." she trailed off.

"I understand it is a difficult situation but you could have at least informed myself or Ratchet about this"

"Okay... Optimus, that little dream I had that allowed you and Ratchet to find out about my sparklings, well, when Starscream contacted base I wanted to speak to him about our sparklings. I may not like him very much-"

"Hey!"

"But as the father of my sparklings I thought it was only fair to talk to him about this"

"I can relate to her explanation as well. I contacted your base because I wanted to speak to Arcee about our sparklings because I have had a similar situation with the whole dream sequence" Starscream thought it would be wise to place his word into this conversation especially if it was one that involved him massively.

"I see..." Optimus looked like he was in deep thought "Starscream, you may come back to base with Arcee. I have already offered Arcee my help and if you are her sparklings' sire then I will help the both of you. I will assist you in finding your sparklings and bringing them back to you, however, I also have to focus on getting our human allies back from Megatron"

"Megatron has your pets?" Starscream asked.

Arcee punched him on the arm, "They are not our pets, Starscream. They are our friends... Family"

"I would help, but I would like to focus my attention on finding my sparklings" he informed the two Autobots.

"As long as you do not disrupt the process of finding our human friends then we accept" Optimus' bright blue optics gazed into Starscream's deep red ones, quietly threatening him.

**/Ratchet, I need a ground bridge. Starscream is going to be joining us for the time being so be alert but do not engage./**

The Autobot ground bridge burst to life and Arcee and Starscream, followed by Optimus walked into it.

Ratchet turned to the three of them as they stepped through the ground bridge with an expression that demanded answers.

"Ratchet, I will allow Arcee and Starscream to explain things to you. I'm going to go and have a word with Bumblebee" Optimus said as he left the med bay and headed on his way to Bumblebee's personal quarters.

The three watched him leave before they all swiveled back around to each other.

"Well?" Ratchet asked showing clearly that he was becoming impatient.

This made Starscream move around in discomfort, he was in an unfamiliar base and knew he was disliked by all of them here.

"Okay, long story short. Starscream is my sparkmate and also the sire of my sparklings that we were talking about earlier. We have both been sensing the sparklings, having dreams about them and feeling them through the spark bond that we thought no longer existed" Arcee explained to the old medic.

"I knew it..."

"What?" Arcee and Starscream both asked.

"Oh, nothing" Ratchet covered up knowing that it would deeply embarrass Optimus "Did you say you could feel your sparklings through the spark bond?"

"Yes, why?" Starscream questioned.

Although Ratchet wasn't keen on the idea of allowing Starscream into the base and helping him, he still helped because he knew how much it would mean to Arcee. He knew how much she wanted her sparklings back with her and what sort of person would he be if he said he wouldn't help her just because of her sparkmate. He couldn't even class himself as a friend let alone a family member.

"Have either of you heard of 'Spark Searching'?" he finally asked.

"Well not until now but I can take a guess about what it is" Arcee replied.

"But we don't know how to do it" Starscream added.

"Okay, all you both need to do is go back to Arcee's quarters where it is quiet. I will make sure no one disturbs you so you don't have to worry about that. You need to focus on your sparks and stretch them until you can feel the steady pulse of your sparklings' sparks. As their parents you will automatically know when you stumble across them. You must keep pulling at it, the more you pull the more they will realize that you are there and they may start trying to head in the direction of the pulling. When you feel the pull or even emotions come from your sparklings you will start to get an idea of where the spark bond leads and you will be able to follow it"

"Sounds like the only option we have" Arcee mumbled.

"Are you sure it will work?" Starscream asked, he was worried. He wanted to find his sparklings and bring them back to him and his sparkmate.

"In most cases where someone has gone missing this solution has been successful, so I would strongly recommend it. Now go, you do want to find them don't you?" he shooed them out of his med bay and towards Arcee's quarters.

They reached Arcee's quarters and sat down on her berth together.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"Ready," she replied.

They both began to locate their sparklings' pulses and tugged when they found it.

It was only until now that Arcee realized she was tied between two important situations. Her sparklings and Jack.

/-\

Jack, Miko and Raf woke up at the exact same time. They could feel a weird tugging sensation in their chests and it was beginning to irritate them to no end. They may have been sleeping on a giant, robotic, alien warlord but they like sleep. Who doesn't?

"This tugging won't go away!" Jack snarled quietly so he didn't wake Megatron.

"You feel it too?" Raf asked.

"All three of us can feel it!" Miko gasped.

"Dude, this is weird. Are you sure you guys aren't just messing with my head?" Jack was beginning to get worried.

"No, Jack. We actually feel it" Miko replied making sure to show her two best friends that she was clearly not lying.

"Well, we know that it's not hurting us so that's a good sign" Raf pointed out.

"Yeah, it's just annoying. That's all" the oldest child tried to calm himself.

"Why don't we go do something to take our minds off it?" Miko asked excitedly.

"Miko, if you haven't noticed we are inside Megatron's quarters and the door is most probably locked or it is too big for us to even think about unlocking it. And also, what would we do on an alien warship?" Jack deadpanned.

"Dude, we escaped through the vents last time"

"Attempted to escape" Raf corrected her.

"Yeah whatever, my point is that we can get out of this room using the vent"

"And then what?" asked Raf.

Miko smirked "Oh, I have something in mind,"

Jack didn't like the sound of this...

/-\

After climbing through vents, arguing with each other and then tricking some drones into believing Megatron had ordered them to give them a ride, Miko had successfully led her two friends out onto the flight deck with three drones keeping them company.

"Okay, drones, are you ready to take flight?!" Miko exclaimed excitedly.

No reply.

"Then let's go!" she said just as excited as before.

"Miko, I'm not sure about this" Raf said anxiously.

"Come on, Raf. It'll be fun" Jack encouraged his younger friend.

Raf nodded to his older friends and watched as the drones transformed into their jet modes and opened their cockpits allowing the mischievous children to climb in.

In no time they were flying around the Nemesis in their drones. Racing, playing tag, bumper cars or 'Bumper Vehicons' as it was now called. It was the most fun they'd ever had!

The best part was that the drones believed that Megatron had given them an order to entertain the kids. In reality Megatron was still recharging and hadn't even noticed that the three young humans were no longer in his personal quarters.

/-\

Back at the Autobot base Starscream and Arcee smiled when they felt the happiness and mischievousness that leaked through the bond. They were happy that they could feel their sparklings a bit stronger now. But most of all they were happy that their sparklings were happy. The two parents didn't want to feel any negative emotion come from their sparklings. It would only upset them because they knew that they would be unable to help.

Arcee received a comm from Ratchet that went to everyone apart from Starscream. Bulkhead had been called back from patrol, Optimus and Bumblebee had been called halfway through a discussion that Arcee guessed had been a pretty heated one.

In a matter of minutes, her and her sparkmate and the rest of Team Prime including June and Agent Fowler were all in the main room. Optimus announced to all of them that they needed to hear the full story of District 29 from Agent Fowler.

The government agent began telling his story yet again and got replies made of curses and pure disgust. Even Starscream had made a few comments about how vile it was. One thing that did catch everyone's attention was that the children had streaks of silver on them. June hadn't mentioned that so it caught everyone by surprise when they were told this and the fact that they were supposedly found in a different form.

Agent Fowler had just finished retelling the past of Jack, Miko and Raf and telling Starscream about how he couldn't mention the adoption situation when the life signal alarm went off.

"It appears that Jack, Miko and Raf are outside of the Nemesis and airborne" Ratchet told them all.

"Now would be one of our best opportunities to try and get them back" Bulkhead added.

"Starscream, you will stay here with Ratchet," the Autobot leader knew that Starscream wouldn't do anything illogical if he wanted their help, "Autobots! Transform and roll out!" Optimus ordered as the ground bridge roared to life.

Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and then Optimus all raced through the ground bridge towards their young charges, their minds set on bringing them home.


End file.
